Overview:

The ProForm 440R rower is a magnetic resistant versatile rowing machine, designed to provide a both cardio and full-body workout. The machine, being a magnetic rowing machine, is silent as expected and gives a very smooth rowing strokes for an entry level rower.

The rowing machine features a low-pulley workout along with the traditional rowing system, making it special from other rowers in the market. This feature allows you to have an extensive care on your biceps, triceps, and shoulder.

Another good feature of this rower is a low footprint and storage space, making it ideal for people living in a narrow flat or something.

The rower is one of the best selling in the market for it’s low price and some good features, but I’d like to mention there’s some issue with the rower that anyone should care about before buying one, or considering it as a very good one. I’ve broken everything of the rower in detail below.

Key Features:

Have an additional low pulley workout station.

Features large and easy to read good LCD monitor, providing data of workout session.

It’s a space saver, saves a lot of space in both ‘in use’ and ‘not in use’ mode, comparing to other rowers.

The machine is an entry level rower, ideal for beginners.

Let’s look at the machine in depth:

Dimension and specification:

While In-Use:

76.6 inch x 20.5 inch x 38.3 inch (L x W x H)

While Stored/ Folded:

30.0 inch x 38.3 inch x 48.0 inch (L x W x H)

Machine Weight:

68 pounds (28 kg)

Resistance type:

The ProForm 440R rower is a magnetic resistant rowing machine. I’ve already explained how a magnetic resistant rower works, you can check it from here.

Commenting on this one, it works good and has a 8 level of resistance, making it suitable for people of different fitness. To adjust the resistance, there’s a large red knob around the console. But the machine should be fully stopped before changing the resistance.

Though there are 8 levels of resistance, some users mentioned that even the highest level was pretty easy for them. I researched this issue a lot and I thought they were kind o right. The machine is not for people with advanced level fitness. Rather it will suit beginners very much as it has a 8 level of adjusting option in medium-sized range. That’s gonna help the beginner harden things up slowly and gradually.

Build quality:

The build quality of ProForm 440R Rower is good and decent, but it’s not best, and away from perfect.

The machine might have some issues on build quality. The finishing is not perfect. There might be some sharp edges and might harm you. That is fixable, though.

It can move a little while rowing if you are too big of weight. The manufacturer claims it to carry a weight of 250 lbs, and it does so. But something close to 250 lbs can cause a little movement on it.

Another issue can be storing it perfectly. While you are trying to fold it, the pin might not align properly with the right hole. But the problem was found with only a little units, not with all.

Except this issues the build quality is good. It’s solid steel frame is durable and will give you a sturdy feel while rowing. The machine is expected to last for a decent amount of years, But not too much like a rower of 1000$ or more. Though you get a lengthy warranty, 5 years on frame and 90 days on parts, to be exact.

Comfort:

The ProForm 440R is an average comfortable rowing machine, to be exact.

Starting with the handle, it’s padded, soft and ergonomically designed. But I and most users felt the diameter of the handlebar is low. So you might not be too comfortable grabbing it and may cause you some blister. But it does not seem to be a major issue as a glove on your hand cuts this issue.

The seat is also soft and padded, and comfortable. But anyone over 6’2″ will not find it so, it might seem a little small for them. The gliding motion of the seat is smooth. It moves nicely along the rail with 4 wheels underneath and seemed to be very smooth and nice, just what a user want.

It comes it pivoting pedals with adjustable foot straps, felt to be nice actually. The foot positioning on this machine is comfortable and the adjustable straps prevent your foot from sliding from the pedals.

Performance monitor:

The screen is pretty large, and so the numbers, allowing you to see the data easily. The monitor brilliantly tracks strokes per minute, total strokes, time, distance, calories burnt etc. And displays each data in a cycle with a delay period of 6 seconds. The monitor is pretty good, overall. In fact, I found this monitor to be a surprise in a low budget machine like this.

Storage:

The low storage space of ProForm 440R is a great side of it.

The machine folds up easily and takes a very narrow space to store. It neither has a large footprint also while in use. Folding and storing it is easy. You just have to pull a pin, stand it upright and reinsert the pin in the proper hole. The detailed and pictured instructions are given in the instruction manual.

To mention, some users found that the pin does not always align perfectly with the proper hole, and it can be a little struggling to insert it. But eventually is does get inserted.

Assembly:

Assembling ProForm 440R rower can be a little tricky and not very easy for a person who have literally no technical knowledge on these things.

The machine comes separated in many parts and thus assembling can be tricky. But thanks to the very detailed instruction manual, makes the job pretty easy. They’ve step by step tutorial in it about how to assemble it. If anyone follows every step properly he/she should be able to assemble it properly without any hassle.

But I would recommend getting someone who has even a little experience in putting this thing together. Because if you miss-assemble any part it may cause problems with it’s performance. And an experienced person will put this together in lesser time, may be in 20-25 minutes.

A great Space-Saver design on this.

Large and well featured LCD Monitor

Very low priced and a budget rowing machine.

CONS:

There are some quality issues on a few machines, not all of them

Not ideal for advanced users as resistance level was not strong enough for them.

Might be difficult for an inexperienced guy to assemble.

Warranty and Price:

The ProForm 440R rower comes with a lengthy 5 years warranty on frame and 90 days warranty on parts. But one should buy it from a trust-able retailer to get the most out of warranty.

And the price of the machine is very low comparing to its overall performance. This low price of it makes it a very much selling machine. Though the price may vary a little bit depending where you are buying it from. I would recommend amazon to anyone who wants to buy it as they tend to have the lowest price and good after sales service around.

Reviewing ProForm 440R Rower, My final thoughts:

The ProForm 440R is a decent rowing machine overall. It has both good and bad sides. If anyone can deal with the bad sides of it, then it’ll add great value for them with its good sides, such as integrated dual action strength training. But if the bad sides seem to be the major issue to one, I would not recommend getting this. The machine is actually Ideal for a beginner guy with a low budget.

Hope my ProForm 440R Rower review was informative to you. Got any questions? Like what would be good for you with your very own metrics or on anything related to rowing machine? Shoot them in the comment section below! I’ll answer them hopefully in 24 hours!